The Ontario Ministry of Labour is proposing amendments to safety laws as part of a broader national and international initiative to implement the “Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals”, known as “GHS”, which is a worldwide system of classifying and providing information about hazardous workplace chemicals.

The proposed amendments are to the Occupational Health and Safety Act provisions that relate to the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), and to certain provisions of the WHMIS regulation.

The MOL notes that the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea are already in the process of implementing the GHS.

In Canada, the federal government has taken steps to implement the GHS. The MOL says that, “All provinces and territories must amend their WHMIS requirements to reflect the changes to WHMIS legislation and regulations”.

The MOL is proposing that new requirements would come into force on June 1, 2015, but that there would be a lengthy transition period until June 2017 for full implementation of the GHS.

The MOL’s consultation period runs from November 3, 2014 to December 19, 2014.

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